Till the election of FREDERIC the first to the crown of Denmark, and till that wonderful revolution which the firft GUSTAvus brought about in Sweden, it is nothing more than a confufed rhapfody of events, in which the great kingdoms and states of Europe neither had any concern, nor took any part. From the time I have mentioned, the northern crowns have turned their counfels and their arms often fouthwards, and Sweden particularly, with prodigious effect.

To what purpose should I trouble your lordship with the mention of hiftories of other nations? They are either fuch as have no relation to the knowledge you would acquire, like that of the Poles, the Muscovites, or the Turks; or they are fuch as, having an occafional or a fecondary relation to it, fall of course into your scheme; like the history of Italy for instance, which is fometimes a part of that of France, sometimes of that of Spain, and fometimes of that of Germany. The thread of history, that you are to keep, is that of the nations who are and must always be concerned in the fame fcenes of action with your These are the principal nations of

own.

the

the weft. Things that have no immediate relation to your own country, or to them, are either too remote, or to minute, to employ much of your time: and their history and your own is, for all your purposes, the whole history of Europe.

THE two great powers, that of France and that of Austria, being formed, and a rivalship established by confequence between them; it began to be the interest of their neighbours to oppose the strongest and moft enterprising of the two, and to be the ally and friend of the weakeft. From hence arofe the notion of a balance of power in Europe, on the equal poize of which the fafety and tranquillity of all muft depend. To deftroy the equality of this balance has been the aim of each of thefe rivals in his turn: and to hinder it from being deftroyed, by preventing too much power from falling into one fcale, has been the principle of all the wise councils of Europe, relatively to France and to the house of Auftria, through the whole period that began at the aera we have fixed, and fubfifts at this hour. To make a çareful and just observation, therefore, of the rife and decline of these powers, in the

two

two last centuries and in the prefent; of the projects which their ambition formed; of the means they employed to carry thefe projects on with fuccefs; of the means employed by others to defeat them; of the if fue of all thefe endeavours in war and in negociation; and particularly, to bring your obfervations home to your own country and your own ufe, of the conduct that England held, to her honor or dishonor, to her advantage or difadvantage, in every one of the numerous and important conjunctures that happened ought to be the principal fubject of your lordship's attention in reading and reflecting on this part of modern history.

Now to this purpose you will find it of great use, my lord, when you have a general plan of the hiftory in your mind, to go over the whole again in another method; which I propofe to be this. Divide the entire period into fuch particular periods as the general courfe of affairs will mark out to you fufficiently, by the rise of new conjunctures, of different schemes of conduct, and of different theatres of action. Examine this period of hiftory as you would

examine

examine a tragedy or a comedy; that is, take first the idea or a general notion of the whole, and after that examine every act and every scene apart. Confider them in themselves, and confider them relatively to one another. Read this hiftory, as you would that of any antient period; but study it afterwards, as it would not be worth your while to study the other; nay as you could not have in your power the means of studying the other, if the study was really worth your while. The former part of this period abounds in great hiftorians: and the latter part is fo modern, that even tradition is, authentic enough to fupply the want of good history, if we are curious to enquire, and if we hearken to the living with the fame impartiality and freedom of judgment as we read the dead: and he that does one, will do the other. The whole period abounds in memorials, in collections of public acts and monuments, of private letters, and of treaties. All these must come into your plan of ftudy, my lord; many not to be red through, but all to be confulted and compared. They must not lead you, I think, to your enquiries, but your enquiries muft lead you to them. By joining history and that which we call the

mate

materia hiftorica together in this manner, and by drawing your information from both, your lordship will acquire not only that knowledge, which many have in fome degree, of the great transactions that have paffed, and the great events that have happened in Europe during this period, and of their immediate and obvious caufes and confequences; but your lordship will acquire a much fuperior knowledge, and fuch a one as very few men poffefs almost in any degree, a knowledge of the true political fyftem of Europe during this time. You will fee it in it's primitive principles, in the constitutions of governments, the situations of countries, their national and true interefts, the characters and the religion of people, and other permanent circumstances. You will trace it through all its fluctuations, and obferve how the objects vary feldom, but the means perpetually, according to the different characters of princes and of those who govern; the different abilities of those who serve; the course of accidents, and a multitude of other irregular and contingent circumstances.

THE particular periods into which the whole period fhould be divided, in my opinion,